Thirteen months ago, the Office of the Governor called upon me to be on the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption. I understood our core mission to be two-fold: to recommend anti-corruption reforms and to investigate elected officials suspected of corruption. I also understood that should the credible evidence uncover criminal wrongdoing, we would make referrals for criminal prosecution to the appropriate agencies.

In the summer of 2013, rumors began to circulate that members of the Governor’s Office sought to veto the issuance of subpoenas for those with political ties to him. Although we recognized our statutory duty to regularly report to the Governor and to the Attorney General, we would not stand for any interference, and discussed a number of options, including resignation. The Governor’s Office, through our commission chairs, agreed not to interfere with our work. No one, to my knowledge, threatened to resign.

The Moreland Commission is defunded and its investigative material has been forwarded to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In light of a reported federal investigation, I believe it would be inappropriate for me to comment further at this time.